I have to thank my girl Latrese Wiliams for hipping me to this sad story. A young brother, Darnell D. Hamilton a student at Urban Prep Charter Academy on the West Side of Chicago made a bad choice due to being pressured everyday by rival gangs who threatened him daily as he made his way to school.
Darnell's mother LaDonna Petty shared that "They wait for him when he gets off the train."
This apparently stressed Hamilton out to the point he got a gun from a friend but someone at school saw it and reported him to the authorities. His locker was serached the gun was found and Hamilton was arrested.
Hamiliton appeared in court still dressed in his school uniform: a white buttoned-down shirt and khaki pants where the judge charged him as an adult with unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a firearm in school, both felonies. Hamilton's bail was set at $75,000.
Hamilton has a 4.0 GPA and has already been promised a scholarship by Ohio State University but recently he has been hoping to go to Duke University or Howard University to study Computer Engineering.
This just gets to me so upset on so many levels. Here is a young brother trying to do the right thing and because he is being pressured and threatenend by other disinfranchised and lost young men he ends up making a bad choice.
He made a poor decision but what is really criminal is that a young African-American man has maintained a 4.0 GPA while negotiating gang territory daily just to be in school but we cannot protect this young man while he is striving for adademic excellence.
Chicogo has been riddled with people getting killed and senseless violence. It seems the real crime is we cannot even protect a kid who is trying to do the right thing and rise above a bad environment.
Also it is sad that it was so easy for this young brother to get a gun in the first place. So much for better gun control laws!
Keep this young brother and his mother in your thoughts and prayers.
Wow. Unbelievable really. If anything this should be a national headline.
Posted by: Stacey Bowers | 09/29/2013 at 01:11 PM
This is actually sad in the world that we live in and how the "man" has pinned us in an unstable and very unpredictable environment named "the ghetto", "the hood", "the projects" and "the inner city". This young man had a 4.0 gpa going to a school in the hood and being pressured by gangs and now he gets arrested for trying to protect his self and live a better life. This kind of upset me when people of the caucasian race see every african american male as a criminal even if his actions are justified. Peace to the brother I commend his spirit and wish him the best
Posted by: Daisean Mills | 09/29/2013 at 04:17 PM
You could not pay me enough to live in Chicago! I hope this young man's issue will be resolved quickly and in his favor, just shows you how twisted the law can be.
Posted by: MK Chester | 09/30/2013 at 11:09 AM